Toy rocket for packaging and storing of night clothes



Nov. 28, 1967 g. GRAL (3K 3,354,576

TOY ROCKET FOR PACK NG AND STORING OF NIGHT CLOTHES Filed July 28, 1965 INVENTOR EDNA GRALNICK BY O f/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent 0 3,354,576 TOY ROCKET FOR PACKAGING AND STORING 0F NHGHT CLQTHES Edna Gralnick, 120 E. 81st St, New York, N.Y. 10028 Filed July 28, 1965, Ser. No. 475,353 7 Claims. (CI. 46-11) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy rocket for the packaging and storing of night clothes. The rocket initially comprises a tube closed by end caps, in which night clothes are contained. After the package is purchased, a cap is removed from one end and a pair of interlocking fins also initially contained within the tube are placed on said end to be simulative of a rocket. These fins leave said end perforate to permit ventilation of the night clothes and to form a base upon which the body of the rocket may stand upright.

This invention relates to a toy rocket for the packaging and storing of night clothes.

It is the primary object of my invention to provide a toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes wherein said toy rocket in its initial as-sold condition is a practical, convenient and useful package in which night clothes may be factory packaged, transported and sold and which may subsequently be converted by a child into a toy rocket.

It is another object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the toy rocket to which the assold package is converted may, as well as serving as a childs plaything, function as a storage unit in the home for the night clothes previously contained therein and which in the interim have been worn.

It is another object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the toy rocket is especially well adapted for containing the night clothes during the day after nightly use by a child, and wherein the form and simulative aspects of the toy rocket tend to induce the child to place his night clothes therein.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the toy rocket is fashioned to ventilate the night clothes contained therein especially when the rocket is in its normal clothes-storing position, upright on a flat surface.

It is another object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the toy rocket can be converted to its rocket simulative mode from its initial as-sold container mode by a child of tender years in a manner suitable for and within the ability of such a child, and wherein said rocket will thereafter amuse the child for long hours of play.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the components of the toy rocket enabling it to be transformed to this mode are stowed within the initial package as it is sold at retail.

It is another object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes wherein the night clothes and package "Ice both have a flight-into-space theme, and wherein the ability of the package to be changed by a young child from its initial as-sold condition into a toy rocket enhances said theme.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes which by virtue of its rocket theme induces a child to don his spaceman night clothes at bedtime, and which suggests that the child neatly store his night clothes in the toy rocket in a neat and orderly fashion, in a spirit of regimented play with my toy rocket.

It is another object of my invention to provide a toy rocket of the character described for packaging and storing night clothes which is few and simple in its number of parts, which is mass producible from inexpensive stock, and which can, therefore, serve as an attractive packaging medium for promoting sales of childrens night clothes.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the toy rocket hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy rocket according to my invention, the same being illustrated in its as-sold state;

FIG. 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary broken-away view of the discharge simulative end of the storage tube which is a component of the toy rocket and showing night clothes and support members stored therein;

IG. 3 is a perspective view of the discharge simulative end of the storage tube in position to be fixed to the vaned support base of the rocket;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the toy rocket in an upright launching simulative position in which it would rest on a fiat surface; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of typical night clothes carrying space age indicia thereon.

In general and in accordance with the teaching of my inventon, I provide a package of cylindrical tubular figuration containing night clothes therein, preferably a single set of the type worn by young children. The package is of sufiicient internal dimension to accommodate such a set of pajamas in a lightly compressed and optimally rolled state. This is the initial as-sold condition of the package for night clothes.

When the package is purchased and brought home, children of tender years may convert the package into a toy simulative of a space rocket. It will be appreciated that such a theme is in the public eye at the present time, and is especially appealing to the imagination of children. The child will be amused by the acts of assembling the rocket and playing with the rocket. The child may break down and reassemble the toy as often as desired. Further, all the parts necessary to the conversion and erection of the toy rocket are carried within the package in its assold condition.

An important and valuable function of the toy rocket subsequently to its being transferred to this mode is to store the night clothes previously contained therein each morning after they have been worn by the child. The

toy rocket thus serves as a convenient and accessible location for the daily storage of night clothes and one which is likely to be utilized by a child.

The toy rocket is constructed so that in the normal position in which a child would be most likely to leave this item, this being an upright vertical ready to fire position, the bottom end of the storage area of the rocket is partially blocked but is open and is held away from the flat surface on which the rocket rests. In this manner, the lower end of the toy rocket is exposed to the air. The top end of the toy rocket is closed by a nose cone cap which preferably is perforate to permit exposure to the air. Thereby, night clothes when stored in the container during the day are ventilated by circulation of air from both ends of the container and from one to the other end of the container.

Being a mother of three young children, I have found from practical experience that the toy rocket constructed within the scope of my invention is a valuable aid both in getting children to bed on time, a universal problem with young ones, and teaching such children to put their clothes away rather than leaving them scattered about their home. The children can be induced to go to bed by telling them to put on their spacesuit night clothes. The children gain pleasure by taking their night clothes out of the toy rocket and by donning said night clothes, which are appropriately decorated with space-travel indicia. This play removes from the minds of the children the usually unpleasant thoughts about retiring.

The next morning, having been in flight during the night, the children naturally pack their night clothes away into the interior of the toy rocket. Because of the association of the night clothes with the rocket, they rarely forget to put their night clothes in their proper storage location, as they would otherwise be wont to do. The toy rocket serves to contain these night clothes until the next evening, when the same are removed again.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral (FIG. 1) denotes a container in which night clothes for young children are packaged and in this condition sold at retail. The container is essentially imperfor-ate. The container is formed from any lightweight semi-stiff relatively thin sheet material as for example, paperboard or sheet plastic, from which commercial low cost packages are conventionally made. The walls of the container can be of single or multiple layers and may carry a suitable synthetic plastic impregnate or laminate on its exterior periphery.

The container 10 includes an elongated tube 12 of hollow cylindrical configuration. The tube 12 is of sufiicient length and of sufiicient internal diameter to accommodate a set of folded and lightly compressed rolled night clothes 14. It will be appreciated that the size of the tube 12 will in some part be dictated by the type of night clothes placed therein. That is, the larger sizes of night clothes and night clothes containing more material may require a larger storage tube 12. The tube 12 is of substantially constant internal and external diameter and the storage tube 12 has a circular wall 16 of uniform thickness.

The storage tube 12 has two open ends, each of which is closed by a cap. A bottom throwaway cap 18 is cylindrical and squat and has a circular flange which frictionally fits over an associated end 20 of the tube 12. The cap 18 is readily removed from the end 20 of the storage tube 12. To discourage pilferage from the counter it may be taped, or lightly tack cemented in place.

The top end 22 of the storage tube 12 is closed by a cap 24 having a general conical blunt nosed configuration which also has a short circular flange 26 which fits over and frictionally engages the associated end 22 of said storage tube. The cap 24 is also readily separated from the storage tube 12 but to inhibit pilferage is taped or lightly tack cemented in place.

The caps 18, 24 close the otherwise open ends of the storage tube and with the storage tube combine to form a wholly enclosed container in which night clothes for young children may be marketed at retail. It will be obvious that the caps 18, 24 prevent the night clothes which are folded within the container from sliding out either end thereof. In this condition, the container 10 is purchased and brought home.

The container as a whole is adapted to be formed by a young child into a toy rocket. To this end, the cap 24 on the top end 22 of the tube has an external configuration which simulates the appearance of the nose cone of a space rocket. The cap 24 has formed therein a circular line 25 of perforations which outlines one or more generally circular areas that when removed from the remainder of the nose cone will leave an aperture 27 therein. Further, the storage tube 12 has an external configuration which is simulative of and desirably is imprinted to resemble the casing of an operative space rocket.

One end 20 of the storage tube 12 has stowed therein two planar rocket stabilizing vane simulating support members 28,30. The planar support members are located within the storage tube when the container 12 is sold at retail. Each of the support members is formed from sheet material and is of similar size and dimensions. Each of the support members has a transverse dimension (width) D (see FIGS. 2 and 4) which is greater than the diameter of the storage tube 12. To fit into the end of the storage tube, the planar support members are both bent to reduce their effective width.

Each of the support members when unbent (at repose), i.e. flattened, is of truncated triangular (trapezoidal) shape, and each support member has an elongated slot therein. One of the support members 28 has its slot 32 perpendicular to its bottom base edge 33 and running inwardly from its top edge 35, while the other support member 30 has a similar slot 34 perpendicular to its bottom base edge 37 and running inwardly from said bottom edge toward the top edge 39 thereof. Each of the slots 32, 34 is of a width slightly less, e.g. one or two hundredths of an inch less, than the thickness of said supports.

The bottom end 20 of the storage tube 12 has two sets of diametricaly opposed elongated heavily perforated lines 36 formed therein at intervals. Said perforated lines run parallel to the axis of the tube and inwardly from the bottom end of the tube, and are equally spaced and coextensive. The length of the perforated lines 36 is less than the height of the planar support members from a location at which the transverse dimension of the members is equal to the diameter of the tube to the bottom edges of the members. During the conversion of the container 10 to the toy rocket, the storage tube will be torn by the child, perhaps with the aid of a parent, along said lines 36 so as to form slots 36' in the end of the tube, the width of the slots being slightly less than the thickness of the support members.

A set of night clothes 14, e.g. a pajama top 40 and a pair of pajama pants 42, of the type which may be utilized in my invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. It will be evident that said night clothes are of any conventional and well known design and formed from any suitable fabric, said night clothes being of the type generally worn by children. The night clothes 14 bear indicia 44 which are representative of the flight into space theme of my invention, the illustrated indicia comprising a rocket passing through space. Said indicia 44 may typically be silk screened onto the pajama top 40 or may be formed from fabric appliques sewn onto the pajama top.

After the container 10 has been purchased and brought home in the above described condition, the same is easily and quickly converted to a toy rocket 10' (FIG. 4), this conversion being easily carried out by even a young child. First, the bottom cap 18 is removed from the end 20 of the storage tube and may be discarded. Then, the two planar support members 28, 30 are removed from the end of the tube. Said planar members are interlocked to form a stabilizing vane simulative base 46 for the tube 12. This is elfectuated by slipping the slots 32, 34 of the support members, respectively, 28, 30 into one another so that each of the slots engages the portion of the other support member beyond and in line with the slot of said other support member. The combined length of the slots is equal to the height of either support member, these, of course, being of the same height as one another. Thereby the support members are fixed perpendicularly to one another, divide each other in half, and have their top edges 35, 39 and bottom edges 33, 37 mutually lying in parallel planes.

The assembled base 46 is then joined to the end 20 of the storage tube 12. Each set of opposed slots 36 engages one of the support members 28, 30, the base being slid into the slots 36 until the slanted side edges thereof or their tip edges abut the closed ends of the slots. Since the support members each have a transverse dimension D greater than the diameter of the storage tube, the base has portions thereof which protrude outwardly from the wall of said tube. The base thus holds the rocket erect and upright in stable condition. Further, the slots 36 are of a length less than the height of the support members at a location where the transverse dimension of the members is equal to the diameter of the tube to the bottom edges of the members so that when the base 46 is engaged to the end of the storage tube, the base has edges which are distant from the end of the tube, these edges lying in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the storage tube (see FIG. 4). Since the end 20 of the storage tube is open, and since this end remains perforate even after engagement to the base, the interior of this end of the tube is exposed to the ambient air.

The circular area bounded by the perforated line 25 is pushed out of the cap 24 so as to leave an aperture 27 (or more than one aperture) in said cap. This aperture exposes the end 22 of the storage tube 12 to the ambient air.

It will now be evident that a child can quickly and easily convert the night clothes container into a toy rocket 10' by quickly and simply removing the support members, assembling the base 46 and engaging it to an open end of the tube 12. The child may break down and reassemble the toy rocket as often as he desires. The educational and play value of the toy rocket are enhanced by including factual material about the solar system imprinted in a booklet included with the pajama in the storage tube. Further, the child will enjoy playing with the rocket for long periods of time.

When a child is told to go to bed, the night clothes 14 can be easily removed from the storage tube 12 by slipping the cap 24 off the top end of the tube and sliding the night clothes out of the end of the tube. The cap 24 is then replaced onto said end.

The child will follow his mothers request to go to bed, because he will enjoy the thought of removing the night clothes from the interior of the toy rocket and donning night clothes bearing the flight-into-space theme.

After a nights sleep, the child will remember to place his night clothes back into the interior of the toy rocket. The night clothes 14 should be folded, rolled or bunched and lightly compressed to be returned into the storage tube. The toy rocket thus serves as a convenient and accessible ventilated storage for said night clothes.

The toy rocket 10' has both of its ends perforate, this constituting on one end the aperture or apertures in the cap 24 and on the other end the base 46 holding the end 20 away from the fiat surface on which the rocket rests. The erect upright stable position in which the rocket is most likely to be left by a child is illustrated in FIG. 4.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a device which achieves the several objects of my invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes, said toy rocket comprising a hollow elongated cylindrical storage tube having an external configuration simulative of a rocket casing, caps closing each end of the storage tube and being manually detachable therefrom so as to allow access to the interior of the tube, one of said caps having an external configuration simulative of a rocket nose cone, planar support members initially stowed within the tube and removable therefrom, manually operable mechanical fastening means for engaging the planar members to an open end of the tube, and night clothes lightly compressed within the tube, said planar members when engaged to the open end of the tube having an external configuration simulative of rocket vanes and leaving said end perforate, said fastening means locking the planar members with the end of the tube so that said members form a base upon which the tube can rest upright in stable launching simulative condition on a fiat surface with said open end held distant from the surface thereby to permit ventilation of the night clothes.

2. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes, said toy rocket comprising a hollow elongated cylindrical storage tube having an external configuration simulative of a rocket casing, a cap closing one end of the tube and being manually detachable therefrom so as to allow access to the interior of the tube, said cap having an external configuration simulative of a rocket nose cone, planar support members initially stowed within the tube and removable therefrom, manually operable mechanical fastening means engaging the planar members to the other end of the tube, the latter end being open and being left perforate by the engaged planar members, said planar members when engaged to the open end of the tube having an external configuration simulative of rocket vanes, said fastening means locking the planar members with the open end of the tube so that the members form a base upon which the tube can rest upright in stable launching simulative condition on a flat surface with said one open end held distant from the surface thereby to permit ventilation of the night clothes, and night clothes lightly compressed within the tube.

3. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes as set forth in claim 2 wherein the cap of the tube is also perforate thereby permitting ventilation of the night clothes from both ends of the tube.

4. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes as set forth in claim 2 wherein the planar members are interlocked to one another.

5. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes as set forth in claim 2 wherein the planar members have edges distant from the tubes each lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tube and upon which the rocket rests.

6. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes as set forth in claim 5 wherein the planar members have their distant edges located outwardly from the wall of the storage tube.

7. A toy rocket for packaging and storing night clothes as set forth in claim 2 wherein there are two substantially similar planar members each having its greatest transverse dimension larger than the diameter of the storage tube, said planar members being initially distorted to fit within the storage tube, said planar members being interlockable with one another, the fastening means including two pairs of slots formed in the wall of the storage tube at intervals adjacent the open end thereof, each pair of slots slideably frictionally receiving a different planar member, each slot having an axial length less than a dimension of the planar support members parallel to '7 8 the axis of the tube so that there are edges of the support 2,484,776 10/ 1949 Zent et a1 229-8 members distant from the tube. 3,195,265 7/ 1965 Marguez et a1 461 1, 3,126,667 3/1964 Rabinow 4617 References Clted v UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. 1,330,780 2/ 1920 Bonte 229--8 R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner.

1,866,493 7/1932 Staats 229-8 

2. A TOY ROCKET FOR PACKAGING AND STORING NIGHT CLOTHES, SAID TOY ROCKET COMPRISING A HOLLOW ELONGATED CYLINDRICAL STORAGE TUBE HAVING AN EXTERNAL CONFIGURATION SIMULATIVE OF A ROCKET CASING, A CAP CLOSING ONE END OF THE TUBE AND BEING MANUALLY DETACHABLE THEREFROM SO AS TO ALLOW ACCESS TO THE INTERIOR OF THE TUBE, SAID CAP HAVING AN EXTERNAL CONFIGURATION SIMULATIVE OF A ROCKET NOSE CONE, PLANAR SUPPORT MEMBERS INITIALLY STOWED WITHIN THE TUBE AND REMOVABLE THEREFROM, MANUALLY OPERABLE MECHANICAL FASTENING MEANS ENGAGING THE PLANAR MEMBERS TO THE OTHER END OF THE TUBE, THE LATTER END BEING OPEN AND BEING LEFT PERFORATE BY THE ENGAGED PLANAR MEMBERS, SAID PLANAR MEMBERS WHEN ENGAGED TO THE OPEN END OF THE TUBE HAVING AN EXTERNAL CONFIGURATION SIMULATIVE OF ROCKET VANES, SAID FASTENING MEANS LOCKING THE PLANAR MEMBERS WITH THE OPEN END OF THE TUBE SO THAT THE MEMBERS FORM A BASE UPON WHICH THE TUBE CAN REST UPRIGHT IN STABLE LAUNCHING SIMULATIVE CONDITION ON A FLAT SURFACE WITH SAID ONE OPEN END HELD DISTANT FROM THE SURFACE THEREBY TO PERMIT VENTILATION OF THE NIGHT CLOTHES, AND NIGHT CLOTHES LIGHTLY COMPRESSED WITHIN THE TUBE. 